The Brightness of her Soul
by V. Sourweather
Summary: Or, in which Lily Potter's fire never truly went out. Focuses on Lily's impact on other people's life. [Rated M for future chapters]
1. Severus Snape

**Hello everyone! This is THE story I'm going to focus on right now. It's about Lily Potter, and her impact on other people's life. Each chapter will be dedicated to another character, and for today, the character in question is Severus Snape.**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, and nothing belongs to me (very sadly). I don't make any money out of this story.**

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**.:. Severus Snape .:.**

**i**

When Severus Snape met Lily Evans, he wasn't ready at all for everything she was going to change in his life. He just saw a young girl with fire in her hair and fire in her eyes. Rebellious, and so very kind. And when she opened her hand and a daisy bloomed within her palm, he smiled. She was just like him.

She was smiling at another young girl, a dark-haired one this time. He heard the older girl call _her_ a freak, and saw the smile vanish from her face and the tears welling up in her eyes. She was so visibly trying to hide her tears, and the other girl didn't even care that she had hurt her.

When the dark-haired girl left, the tears she was holding back finally slid down her cheeks. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to comfort her, so he stepped forward and out of the shadow of the huge tree.

"You shouldn't cry," he said, his voice as reassuring as he could muster. "I don't think you're a freak."

The red-haired girl whirled around, and her hair whipped around her head. She wiped at her tears and looked at him, the deep nuances of her green eyes almost hypnotizing him.

"You're just like me," he added.

Her eyes burned into him like fire and he chose to show her something he could do. He picked up one of the daisies in the meadow and extended his hand to her. And the flower flew towards her, and the smile that shone on her face was so radiating that he didn't doubt for one second he had made the right choice talking to her, and _showing_ her what he could do.

**ii**

When she was sorted into Gryffindor, he knew something would never be the same between them. Or at least he thought so. Because for many years after that moment, she stood by the side of a Slytherin boy who was so very different from her. Perhaps that was what made their friendship so beautiful, so… pure.

Many years later came a day when he couldn't control his anger. He called her a Mudblood, and he couldn't take it back. She let him go, and he was truly alone after that. The Slytherins were (most of them anyway) afraid of him, the Gryffindors hated him, and the Ravenclaws simply didn't care about him. And he didn't care about the Hufflepuffs.

He didn't realize he needed her fire until it was gone from his life.

**iii**

He was walking towards the lake, at the spot where Lily and him always came when they wanted to be alone, when he saw two silhouettes by the water. He frowned and came closer, and when he saw the red hair that reflected the light of the sun, he felt a pang in his heart. Because he recognized the person she was with…She had to choose James Potter, of all people! And she had to come here, in _their_ spot, with _him_!

Suddenly, she laughed at something he said, and he decided not to look any longer. He was just torturing himself. But even as he turned around, he remembered how her fire burned bright for someone other than him.

**iv**

He was not supposed to feel like this. He was not supposed to be nervous. He tried to convince himself that it was not reasonable, but it was no use.

Lily was in danger, and he could already see, in his worst nightmares, the fire of her hair and in her eyes being tarnished. After he couldn't take it anymore, he decided to do something to try and protect her (or them; it didn't even matter, if it meant protection for _her_).

"Severus," Dumbledore greeted him when he recognized him.

"Dumbledore," he almost spat, and the Headmaster frowned. It was clear what he was confused about; if he was so disgusted by him, why did he dare to come into his office?

"What is it you are looking for?" the older man finally asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Protection. For Lily Evans… Lily _Potter_," he spat out her new last name.

"I see you have heard about what fate awaits the Potters, Severus."

He nodded curtly and said, "I want Lily to be safe. So protect her, protect them _all_ if you have to."

"I cannot guarantee –"

"I need you to protect her, Dumbledore. I need you to _promise_ me you will protect her."

Severus knew the other wizard couldn't promise him such a thing. There was always going to be a slight chance that the Dark Lord would still reach them, but the protection of Albus Dumbledore, the only wizard he was afraid of, had to mean _something_.

After a while, after he paced every possible inch of the room, Dumbledore finally declared, "I promise you I will do my best to protect them. But we both know, Severus, that there is a chance they will still die."

He just left without a single goodbye. He had a bad feeling about this.

**v**

He fell to his knees and cried. There she was… His Lily. Lying on the ground, her red hair spread under her head. There was a stray strand of hair crossing her face, and her green eyes, which had once been filled with fire, were the most terrible thing about her; so empty.

She looked like she had gone down fighting (there was still a scowl on her lips), and it didn't make him feel better at all. He just felt so… empty. Her fire had gone from the world… or so he thought. He heard a cry and turned towards the crib behind her. A baby. Alive. The baby. The one that was responsible for their deaths.

He didn't come any closer. He didn't want to see if he looked like her. But as he finally walked away, he realized her fire was not so gone after all. Whether he liked it or not, the baby had survived. And her son was the one to carry her torch now.

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**I hope you liked this first chapter! :) I am not making any promises as to when the next chapter will be up, because I'm pretty sure I won't respect the date.**


	2. Marlene McKinnon

**Hello everyone! The new chapter of The Brightness of her Soul is finally up! I actually had some difficulty to write the first part of the chapter (and I still think it's kind of bad), so that's why I didn't post it before today. But I hope you will enjoy reading it anyway! :)**

**Also, I kind of messed up (I think) the order of the deaths of the First Order of the Phoenix.**

**This chapter's character is Marlene McKinnon.**

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, it's J.K. Rowling's property. I don't make any money out of this story.**

**Word count (without A/N) - for the Fanfiction Writing Month (March) on HSWW : 1,679 words**

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**.:. Marlene McKinnon .:.**

**i**

Marlene was sitting at the Gryffindor table, as close as possible from the vacant seats reserved for the First Years, and waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to end. Of course, she was paying attention to the sorting of every new student, but the first one to really catch her attention was a young girl. A girl with dark red hair and green eyes that shone with anticipation and nervousness.

Marlene straightened her back and frowned, looking intently at the young, red-haired girl.

"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat decided, and she clapped with the others.

She smirked a little. She was sure that Gryffindor had just gained a motivated new student, because the way the young girl bounced a little when she started walking towards the table was clearly demonstrating her willingness to start a new year.

She heard her say her name (she was called Lily) and she laughed a little. Lily, just like her mother. She looked tender and kind, just like her. That's probably why, when the Sorting Ceremony ended, she leaned forward and looked intently at her.

Benjy put a hand on her shoulder, laughing. "Careful there, Marl! If you keep looking at her like this, you'll scare her away!"

She shrugged, removing his hand from her shoulder blades, and then she exclaimed, "I'm Marlene. Marlene McKinnon," in her exuberant voice. All the First Years presented themselves in return, and she waved at them all, but the only answer she was really waiting for was that of Lily.

"I'm Lily," she finally said, a bright smile on her lips. "Lily Evans. It's nice to meet you… Marl."

As soon as the nickname escaped her lips, she flushed and lowered her eyes. Marlene glared at Benjy behind her and then smiled sweetly at the little girl. "Don't worry, I don't mind the nickname," she said, as reassuringly as she could. "Besides, it's Benjy's fault, not yours. He knows he shouldn't say it in front of people."

Lily smiled at her, and there was like a fire in her eyes. And when she turned away to talk to someone else, Marlene felt… She didn't know how to describe it, other than she felt cold.

**ii**

Marlene didn't talk to Lily again until a long time after that, during a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. She had been in the Order for a long time (long enough to have her heart broken by Gideon Prewett anyway), and she had seen so many things that had made her want to throw up.

But when she saw the red hair and the green eyes that she had almost forgotten, she frowned, because Lily shouldn't be here. She knew that there was a fire inside the younger woman, a fire that should always be allowed to burn free, but this wasn't the way.

"Lily?" she asked, and her voice was uncertain.

She turned towards her and let go of the young man she was holding hands with. She frowned, and then seemed to remember who Marlene was, and there it was again – this radiant smile she had admired so long ago.

"You're Marlene, right?" she asked, and she almost sounded excited, until she really looked at her and frowned. "You've changed."

"You have changed too," she shot back, and it was true, in a way. She seemed more confident and even more lively than she was the last time she'd seen her. But physically speaking, there wasn't a single change. Still the same dark red hair that resembled fire, and still those bright green eyes.

She finally focused on her companion – no, _companions_, because there were more of them at the other end of the corridor. "And you are…?" she asked, and she couldn't help but sound a little harsh.

"I'm James," he still answered with a little smile. "James Potter. I was in the same year as Lily. In Gryffindor too."

"Mmm… I remember your name," she just said, before pointing towards the others.

Lily laughed a little. "I'm sure they'll all be driving Moody mad before the end of the month," she sniggered, and then pointed towards a sandy hair boy (Remus Lupin), a black-haired young man (Sirius Black) and another one that she called Peter, the shorter of the three (and also the one who seemed to be the nicest).

"May I present you… the Marauders?" she introduced them all, and James laughed heartily. His laugh rang strangely in the silent corridors, and she made a face. She wasn't in the mood for a laugh.

Lily put a light hand on her arm and asked her, "Are you alright, Marlene?"

She nodded, and then turned on her heels and left, followed by the laughs of these… Marauders. It made her want to scream, that they could still laugh and play and _love_… and she couldn't.

**iii**

"Marl?" Lily asked her, and she turned her head abruptly. She wiped her tears away rapidly, and tried to act as though she wasn't crying. Lily sat down next to her, on the couch in the headquarters' central room, her movement slowed down by her visible pregnancy.

"You're allowed to cry, you know?" she asked, and Marlene knew it, but she had never been one to show her weaknesses.

"I just – I just can't believe he's actually gone," she whispered, and Lily nodded. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do, because Marlene instantly glared at her and snapped, "You didn't even really know him."

"I didn't," she agreed, and there was a sadness in her green eyes. When Marlene looked at her now, after a few years fighting in the war, she could see more maturity in her eyes. And when she lowered hers, there was a glint on the silver ring Lily wore, and the older woman could see her prominent belly, and she felt tears well up in her eyes again.

Benjy didn't get to have what she had: love, and happiness, and –

"He had it," Lily stated, interrupting her thoughts, and Marlene was briefly worried that her expressions could be read so easily, but then she wondered what her friend (because Lily _was_ her friend now, after all they had been through together) had meant by that.

"He didn't," she whispered. "He didn't get to propose to Dorcas – he wanted to, he told me so –, and he was so in love with her. And I haven't heard his laugh for so long, and it just kills me…"

"He loved her, and Dorie knows it. And he did love you as well, and you loved him too, and in the end, it's all that matters."

Marlene looked right into Lily's eyes and saw her fierceness and her pain, and she finally let her tears flow down her cheeks. She leaned into her friend, careful not to hurt her or the baby in her belly, and the red-haired woman cried with her, and when finally, she pulled away, she felt just a little better.

"Marls?" she suddenly heard, and she turned towards Sirius, who was leaning in the doorway. He looked worried, and she forced a little smile on her lips, standing up and brushing imaginary dust away from her clothes.

"I'm okay, Sirius. Don't worry about me," she said, and it was just the truth. She was better, anyway, than Benjy or Caradoc or _so many_ other friends.

She wished she could just avoid him some more, but as soon as he grabbed her arm, she understood that she couldn't. She lowered her eyes but did turn towards him, and she felt Lily pass behind her to walk out of the room and leave them alone.

And when she left, there was like a coldness in her heart, because it was almost like her fire had went out with her.

**iv**

She was going to die. She knew it now, and she wasn't even afraid. She did regret a lot of things though. How she trusted Remus or Peter when she shouldn't have, how she hadn't said goodbye to Lily and James, how she hadn't kissed Sirius one last time…

But the bodies of her mother and her father lay in front of her, and she couldn't bring herself to be sorry for leaving her friends behind. She was going to join her parents soon, and everything would be all right again.

Still, she wished she could see Lily and James and Sirius again, just to warn them that the traitor was one of their best friends. And just to see a little more of the fire in their eyes, because she knew they would never give up.

When the green light hit her, there was a little smile on her lips, and the Death Eaters left behind a destroyed home and a dead family, and a twenty-five year-old blonde girl, lying on the floor, almost as if she was asleep.

**v**

Lily didn't seem to be able to stop crying. Marlene, who had been the first one to really show any interest in her at Hogwarts, Marlene, who had grown to be one of her best friends, and not just another member of the Order, Marlene, who had stood by her side in so many fights… Marlene was dead. Gone.

James and Sirius had found her, and her husband had had to stay with his best friend, who was just… broken now that Marlene was gone. But when James had come home to her and Harry with a grim look on his face, she had known that something had happened. She hadn't had any idea, however, of what it was, and when he had whispered the words "Marlene is dead," she had begun to cry.

She was hiding her face in James's shirt now, her tears staining the cloth, and he was holding her close. He wasn't saying anything, but when she finally pulled away, her eyes red from crying, there was a bright flame in her green eyes, behind all her pain.

"She won't be dead for nothing," she said, fiercely, and she would never know how right she was.

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**I hope you liked this! :)**


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